The Downside to Paper Books
Hey hey, did you know?
If you move, you have to move your books!
And those fuckers are heavy!
I haven't moved in a long time, but I have heard it from bibliophiles multiple times, how much moving their book collection sucks.
But maybe I should prune. This isn't any KonMari welling up from my soul, it's just:
I'm Lady Tsundoku, I either need to read these books or find them a good home.
I have a bunch of textbooks I kept because I was so sure of what I was going to grad school for. Spoiler: I'm going to grad school for something else.
I've lived in this house for 8 years, isn't it reasonable to expect myself to have changed as a person at least taste-wise? Shit, I've got stuff from when I was 13 that just brings me shame. That's got to go, hopefully into that recently-discovered black hole.
All pruning methods I found were imperfect for me, so I set up my own.
First:
- Are you going to read the book again?
- If unread, is it a book you honestly plan on reading soon?
- If it's a reference book, is it relevant to your interests?
- If it's a coffee table book, is it one you'd actually put on a coffee table?
A “yes” means I keep it. There's also questions of condition, and if it's easily rebuyable outside of amazon-owned shops.
If it fits in the keep category, I marked it with washi tape, because that is not particularly sticky and should not be hard to get off the books. If not, I have a decent amount of cleaning ahead!
And then I just went shelf by shelf. I'm not done yet, as this is a very emotional activity, but it's not as hard as I thought it would be, probably because I haven't actually “committed” to anything yet. It's not like I'm placing the pruned books in a box yet.
I haven't decided what to do with the books yet. I want them to go to good homes of course (even the ones that are trash), so don't be surprised if you see postings on the fediverse like: “Give Away: Brave Story, Lightly used”.
Feel free to at me on the Fediverse, please provide context though.